For at least a decade, if no longer, the museum that once was primarily art and artifacts, has been dealing with the thorny challenges associated with accessibility. We know how to hoard our treasures; how to share them fairly is still confusing for us. Economic access is probably the easiest obstacle, even if free entry for everyone (an obvious and highly recommended solution) is not something that everyone considers. But attracting audiences outside the audience is what museums have traditionally done and traditionally wrong.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people worldwide live in visual impairment. About 6 million Americans have some degree of vision loss; 1 million have legal blindness. This is how visual arts are: vision. Sitting at my desk with glasses sitting on my nose, wondering if my relatively mild myopia is eligible to be one of 6 million people, I awkwardly admit that I never considered what art museums might offer to people in the blind range.
It turns out that institutions have designed many methods to cause visitors to suffer from visual impairment and vision loss. Throughout the museum, touch-friendly tours are available that promote tactile exploration of selected works, 3D printed models of artifacts for processing, add apps to the deadline, apps that connect low-visual and blind visitors to people who describe art in real time, and are specifically targeted at those with audio travel with loss and sensory activities that are neither visionary nor blend effects such as performances or such good performances. During the oral imaging journey, visitors can explore the museum through lecturers, which provides detailed artwork and background descriptions through dialogue.
The Art Institute of Chicago has a dedicated space for non-visual art appreciation, the Elizabeth Morse Touch Gallery, although it contains only a few sculptures. In 2021, the Casselberry Sculpture House, Florida, held the entire exhibition “Revised” to involve people with visual impairments, inviting others Don Blindfolds and interacting with the artwork. “Sight is not the only way to understand art,” Carol Wilson, president of Rand Education at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, noted in an interview with NPR. “The line of sight is not the only way to understand art,” noted that no one stays for every visitor. For example, it may be an empty, even a gesture of good intentions to describe only artwork to someone who has been blind since birth. Some visitors will benefit from amplification technology, others will benefit from haptic displays, while others will benefit from audio guides. The point is that in terms of accommodation, more is better.
Understandably, few museums explore technical methods to help people with visual impairments, and actually see the art. There are not many such techniques, and there are many types and degrees of vision loss. Here, things that work for some people are not suitable for everyone. However, when assistive technology does work, the reward can be profound. “It’s not just about hearing about tourists’ experiences; it’s about the rewards of knowing that people have the opportunity to experience things most of us take for granted.”
In recent months, OMA has held three “Art of All Eyes” events, during which visitors with visual impairment can check out Esight Go, a wearable aid that alleviates central vision loss caused by twenty different conditions, including macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. “The device casts an image near the eye and floods the retinal surface with that image,” explained Jamie Barendsen, Esight marketing manager. “For people with central vision loss, the central part of the vision doesn’t work properly, but peripheral vision still works properly. Este uses that peripheral vision to send the complete image to the brain, and then synthesize it into the brain. In essence, it can make the brain “filled with “the blocked stuff.” “Combined with the magnification, it can also help people with blind spots or obstructions see more fully.
She proved Esight Go in our conversation. I expect it to be like a VR headset. It’s closer to a pair of bulky sunglasses. You’ll notice if someone nearby is wearing it, but you’ll call it soon. “From an artistic appreciation point of view, it allows the wearer to actually see the color, texture and detail of the work, not just its outline or shape,” Barendsen said. “It restores the gift of detail and the ability to fully interact with the world again.” She added that institutions are interested in how Esight Go supports accessibility.
The collaboration between OMA and Esight was inspired by Orlando-based artist Kelly Joy Ladd. In 2020, she suffered a brain trauma, which destroyed her vision. During her recovery, she tried to visit the museum’s annual “Florida Contemporary Art Awards” exhibition, but she couldn’t see the work and she cried. “I can see it, but everything is twisted – my vision is shaking violently from one side to the other,” she told the observer. “I’m recovering, I’m much better than before, but during that time, I’m really struggling.”
All she could do in the first few months after her injury was lying on the sofa and meditating with her eyes closed. She can’t read, watch TV, watch phone or computer, or even listen to music, it’s all too exciting. Interacting with her artwork (a thousand layers of paper, detailed and highly textured sculptures) – it proved overwhelming for a long time. “Eventually, I forced myself to start working again, which was a vision therapy for me. At first, I could only work ten minutes at a time and the process was very slow.”
Eventually, though, she returned to the museum and the “Florida Awards” exhibition, not as a visitor, but one of the ten selected artists. “Contemporary art does not teach art history in the traditional sense, but about participation, which means accessibility and representation,” Claeysen-Gleyzon said. “Kelly’s story is so compelling; her experience makes us think about what it means to make people see again.” When the museum’s PR company heard Ladd’s story, they suggested that Oma learn more about Esight glasses. “It’s a natural fit, whether it’s for accessibility or our goal to be the museum at the forefront of technology.”
According to Barendsen, the company is starting a conversation with institutions about how glasses can adapt to accessibility plans. Claeysen-Gleyzon confirmed that Oma is actively exploring how to make Esight sustainable for visitors. “It’s a valuable piece of equipment, so there are challenges – cost, maintenance, expertise,” she said. Esight Reps participated in a low-visual day event, presumably for troubleshooting, but it can also see what impact the technology will have in a museum environment.
Or outside. “These stories are incredible,” Barlunderson said. “The wife of the first man explained that he hadn’t seen her face for more than a decade. When he put on Este, he saw her clearly – because he was to see not only art, but also his family again. His daughter said he usually stayed at home because he couldn’t see it, but that opened up his world.” In the second incident, another person with planetary disease (inspired the situation created by the engineer Conrad Lewis, behind the technology) worked on it. Barendsen explained that he had been working hard to keep working and read a letter on a large number of screens with letters 14 inches tall. “He put on Este, quiet, and finally said, ‘I don’t believe my eyes.'”
Recognizing that Esight Go is not a repair of every vision loss, LADD also created artworks that visitors in the low-vision era can interact with through touch, adding another layer of accessibility. The Orlando Museum of Art promotes these activities through its usual channels, including the Beacon in Central Florida, a nonprofit that works with people with vision loss and blindness, although Claeysen-Gleyzon says word of mouth plays a major role in their success. “People even reached out and asked if glasses were suitable for their specific conditions,” Claeysen-Gleyzon said. “Obviously, this kind of programming is needed.”
“Just because someone doesn’t see it doesn’t mean they should lose the ability to experience art,” Barendsen said. “Technology can open these doors.” When it can’t, meaningful personal encounters can help fill the gap.
“I had a wonderful experience with a little girl who was too young to wear glasses,” Rad said. “I have my work samples for people to contact.
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